Steering youth out of darkness of extremism the central point of my struggle: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri addresses MUL Convocation

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, the founding leader of MQI and the Chairman of Board of Governors of the Minahj University Lahore, has said that the society has been exposed to contradictions and intellectual chaos through compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular sciences. He said that we would bury such a system and false thinking as handed guns in the hands of our children instead of pen and created hatred in their hearts at the place of love. He said that future will be marked by victory of truth and knowledge and defeat of highly radicalized attitudes. He said that MQI has laid the foundation-stone of a moderate Islamic society, free of extremism, by combining the modern and religious sciences under one roof. He said that he dreamed to establish a university equipped with the modern contemporary sciences, which Allah Almighty has fulfilled.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed these views while addressing the annual convocation of Minhaj University in Lahore on August 1, 2015. The Deputy Chairman, Board of Governors of the Minhaj University Lahore Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, Vice Chancellor of the Minhaj University Lahore Dr Muhammad Aslam Ghouri also spoke on the occasion. The Chairman of MQI Supreme Council Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Registrar Col. (r ) Muhammad Ahmad, Controller Examination Dr Shujaat Khalid Mahmood, and Javed Iqbal Qadri distributed prizes among the shining and intelligent students. 770 male and female students who completed their education at the Minhaj University were awarded degrees on the occasion. 22 students were given gold medals. The 200 students were awarded Roll of Honours. Merit certificates were distributed among 88 students, whereas two students were awarded PhD degrees.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri awarded degrees among the male and female students of M. Phil, PhD and M.Sc. and congratulated them on their marvelous achievement. He said that by founding Ali Garh University, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan produced a generation of highly educated people. He said that these people played a principal role in awakening the slumbering Muslims of the sub-continent, adding that these were the very people who transformed the landscape of the Indian sub-continent by filling in the intellectual void and ended up translating the idea of Pakistan into reality.

The PAT chairman said that he is of the considered view that the educated youth of Pakistan should be at the helms of the country at this crucial stage of reconstruction of Pakistan and steer it out of multiple challenges in which it remains stuck. He asked the shining and competent students attending the convocation that they should adopt the idea of purposeful life and productive knowledge. He asked what good is knowledge by acquiring which one is attracted to material pursuits, hatred and conservatism. He said that MQI has invested all of its energies on the character-building of the youth and imparting them purposeful education.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri also threw a detailed light on the recently launched Islamic curriculum on peace and counter-terrorism and said that this peace curriculum consisting of 25 books will reject the self-styled and misleading definitions of the concept of Jihad employed by the terrorists and extremists. He said that steering the youth out of darkness of extremism is the central point of his struggle.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that our mission is education for development, education for awareness and education for service. He said that we did not let education become a business and expended all our energies and available resources for provision of purposeful and the state of the art education. He invited all segments of society to visit the educational institutions particularly different departments of the Minhaj University Lahore, adding that we are pretty sure that they would consider the future of their children safe and secure in our hands after the visit.